SEO Techniques That Work
There are a few SEO techniques that all website owners – that manage their site content – should be aware of and adhere to. Search Engine Optimization is a complex and involved aspect of building a website and Google is always evolving in how they handle search results. That said, there are some long standing ‘rules’ for websites that still hold true. You don’t have to be an expert in the subject to implement some important changes that will seriously improve your website ranking.
Have Your Website Run on HTTPS
Google now requires websites run on HTTPS – or they will be flagged as “not secure” in the Chrome web browser. They have also updated their search engine algorithm to favor HTTPS sites with higher SEO rankings. Learn more.
Ensure Your Website is Mobile Friendly
Google started favoring mobile responsive websites in March of 2018. What does that mean? Simply – it means that your website will rank higher in a Google search if it is mobile friendly – AKA responsive. Learn what makes a website responsive.
Create Relevant Page Titles and URLs
Your page or blog post title and URL should be short and relevant to the content in the page. Page and Post titles also should be displayed on the page using the h1 HTML tag. The URLs need to be concise and the words should be separated by hyphens. Keep in mind – search engines read this data.
For example…
Good URL > https://websitesbytheresa.com/using-images-effectively/
Bad URL > https://websitesbytheresa.com/?p=2700
Bad URL > https://websitesbytheresa.com/somerandomlonggroupofwordsthatarenotseparated/
Properly Format Page and Post Content
Search engines know when a page is properly formatted. This means:
- include only ONE title (heading) tag that is h1 *
- include sub-heading tags that are h2 *
- list content in short, 3-4 sentence paragraphs
- mark up text with bold and italicized styles
* NOTE: This is one aspect of sites I consistently see issues with! The heading tags are important HTML elements that need to be used correctly in order to be effective. Don’t use the h1 tag several times on a page just to make the text larger. Also, don’t write entire paragraphs using the h2 or h3 tag. All you are doing here is hurting your SEO. 🙁
Include an Accurate Description and Keyword Phrase
Advanced SEO work includes adding meta data to the page or post. Your page description should be a few short statements describing the page / post content. The keyword phrase is 1-3 words that you are optimizing your page for.
The plugin I use for my SEO work is Yoast SEO. They offer a free version of the plugin for WordPress sites that is perfect for optimizing your pages and posts.
As of this publish date – I am shown on page 1 of a Google Search for “website security review“. 🙂
